Just unfortunate.
And how much unfortunate would you get than having Clare Short as Mayor? A stalwart opponent of the invasion of Iraq who resigned as a “protest at planning for the war’s aftermath”, and whose comments over the 1997 eruption of Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat were such a throwback to days of Empire that Jenny Tonge acted as a voice of reason.
The argument for directly elected mayors, as opposed to one selected by elected councilors is one of the “bring democracy back to the people” variety. My gripe with this is that it removes responsibility and oversight of such executive control from the elected councilors and – like an elected Upper House – adds the paypacket for just another hack-on-the-make to the public purse.
And that is before I get onto Tower Hamlets.
